BOGOTA ( Associated Press) – Feared former paramilitary chief Rodrigo Tovar Pupo, aka “Jorge 40,” testified Thursday before the Colombian Special Jurisdiction for Peace that his last chance to be admitted to court and receive those sanctions What would be the chance they weren’t. Include prison in exchange for speaking at length about his involvement in the internal armed conflict.
Tovar Pupo said in a public hearing held in Ibagué, “Survivors and victims, from my most essential privacy, I want to solemnly announce that I feel deeply and sincerely sorry for all the suffering each and every one of you has caused Am.” The country, the city where he is in prison.
Tovar Pupo was one of the most feared paramilitaries in Colombia, as head of the northern block of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), an armed group fighting leftist guerrillas.
In 2006, Tovar Pupo laid down his arms as part of an agreement between the state and the AUC. Two years later he was extradited to the United States where he served a 12-year prison sentence for drug trafficking and in 2020 was deported to Colombia to answer for dozens of crimes. Including genocide.
Former paramilitaries usually do not enter the special jurisdiction of the peace, as after demobilization they had their own justice system and were prosecuted. The JEP was born in 2016 following the signing of a peace process between the state and the extinct guerrilla Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) over crimes against humanity and war committed in five decades of confrontation.
However, in Tovar Pupo’s case, it is likely that he will enter under the figure of a “civilian third party” if he proves that as a former paramilitary commander he was “inducted into a public force to contain an armed group”. was state service,” he explained. In a statement, the court
The hearing will continue till Friday. Then, the court will compare the information provided by Tovar Puepo and decide whether or not to accept his admission to the JEP.
The Truth Commission, an extraordinary body in charge of clarifying events during the conflict, concluded that paramilitary forces were responsible for more than 205,000 homicides, 63,000 victims of enforced disappearances, and 9,500 kidnappings.
